A Review of the Trailer for Gary Bates’ Forthcoming Alien Intrusion Film

With the film version of Gary Bates’ Amazon bestseller Alien Intrusion due to come out in December 2017, we thought we’d take a look at the trailer to see what we can expect in the finished product. I make no bones about the fact that I am not a fan of Alien Intrusion‘s message of fallen angels disguised as aliens nor especially the fact that Gary Bates paints his xenophobic dogma as Biblical truth.

The following is the transcript (in bold) from the trailer (which you can view below). My commentary follows each section of dialogue.

Gary Bates: Now I’m a science fiction fan, and I can tell you the truth is out there, but it’s a lot stranger than science fiction.

Maybe Bates was a scifi fan at one point but he really has nothing good to say about the genre in his book. In fact, he spends most of his time demonizing it as being founded by evolutionists who infused the genre with their worldview. He does mention the fact that the very first scifi book was written by Christian and Creationist Johannes Kepler, but (consistent with his selective presentation of evidence) He fails to mention that Somnium features extraterrestrials (Oops!). His lopsided portrayal of scifi omits the work of Christian scifi authors including any mention of CS Lewis’ Space Trilogy (a truly significant omission in any book dealing with a Christian take on aliens!).

I find his attempt to associate himself with scifi Fandom to establish some kind of street cred with those interested in this subject matter to be disingenuous. He’s basically saying, “Hey, I like it too but it’s bad,” based on a myopic view of the genre.

Joseph Jordan, National director for MUFON (South Korea): It’s claimed that over 20 million Americans seen a UFO.

Joe Jordan formerly worked for NASA and he’s the current directory of the North Korean branch of the Mutual UFO Network. That’s not why Jordan is in this documentary. Jordan is the president and founder of the CE4 Research Group. Their research was the centerpiece for the Alien Intrusion book. They’re the guys who claim that aliens abduction experiences can be instantly terminated by invoking the name of Jesus. To a lot of guys this is the smoking gun that proves the UFO phenomenon is demonic.

Yeah. Let’s put on our thinking caps for a second. Is the name of Jesus only effective on demons and spiritual things? Would the name of Jesus stop a nightmare or hallucination brought on by a mental illness or psychological causes like sleep paralysis? Any Christian would answer in the affirmative. CE4 has brought up an interesting aspect of the UFO phenomenon, but the fact that these experiences are subject to the authority of Christ does not make them demonic by default.

Gary Bates: The Roper Poll concluded that up to 4 million Americans have been abducted by aliens.

Henry Richter, PhD: I’ve been involved in the development of space vehicles for exploration for over 60 years. You know there are massive problems with the idea that advanced aliens can simply warp themselves around the galaxy.

As a scifi author, the fact that travel to galaxies far, far away is currently impossible hasn’t escape me. I don’t think it’s escaped most people. We realize that warp drives and hyperspace are literary devices to allow us to explore fictional alien worlds and cultures. Particularly if they are on a Trek or are at War amongst the Stars 🤓.

Dewey Rhodes, PhD. Astrophysicist at Georgia Tech: The starship Enterprise travels at multiple factors of light speed. It is estimated that there are 100,000 dust particles per cubic kilometer of space. Travelling at about one-third the speed of light, even NV a grain as wide as a snowflake would be like a pinpoint explosion of 4 tons of TNT.

The apparent impossibility of faster than light space travel is one of Gary Bates’ go-to arguments against the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), the idea that aliens are visiting this planet. I don’t personally hold to the ETH but it should be said that our current impossibilities tend to become tomorrow’s technologies. Once upon a time, the sound barrier was unattainable, as was the moon, flight… and so on.

I was recently banned (classy move, guys) from Creation Ministries International’s Facebook page, in part, for pointing out that folks like the Tau Zero Foundation are working on the problems of long distance space travel. Fortunately, I had the foresight to grab a screenshot.

Norio Hayakawa, UFO investigator (NICAP/APRO): These alleged aliens coming to us from distant star systems are nothing of the sort. Rather they are deceptive entities emanating from another dimension.

Even if the ETH is insufficient to explain the enigma, that doesn’t mean that the extradimensional hypothesis (aka interdimensional theory or 4D theory) is automatically true by default. Gary Bates has latched onto the idea popularized by proponents of 4D theory that holds that UFOs are a modern manifestation of a phenomenon which was once ascribed to supernatural creatures like faeries, demonstrate, etc …only Gary Bates thinks that it’s still demonological after all and alleged extraterrestrials are simply a modern disguise.

Gary Bates: These experts tell us that the very laws of physics must be violated if aliens are to get here from distant star systems but I’m telling that I’ve now met hundreds of people who’ve seen things and even claim encounters with beings and they’ve got no explanation about their experiences.

The answer that Gary Bates seeks to provide is that it’s all the Devil anyway, but as I noted in Strangers and Aliens, the problem is that the principle of mediocrity holds that a minority of the UFO phenomenon is demonic. Gary Bates is painting the phenomenon with a wide brush indeed!

Joyce Ahrens, Experiencer: I remember them coming into my bedroom. My daughter’s crib was at the foot of the bed. I watched two of them come over and pick her up out of her bed. She was so scared.

I get the feeling that anecdotal stories of abductees are going to form the backbone of this documentary. I don’t know much about Joyce’s experience, so I can’t comment on it directly. I can tell you that I expect the film to downplay hoaxes, sleep paralysis, false memories and pretty much every other natural explanation in favor of a more sensational spiritual warfare angle.

Gary Bates: Now I believe something is happening

Maybe. The trouble with actual research is that you find out that a lot of people are just making things up. Even when people are sincere, it’s not always what they think it is. Research suggests that false memories gleaned from pop culture and hypnopompic hallucinations (those which occur upon waking) associated with sleep paralysis, as well as a variety of other psychological causes and mental illnesses (including schizophrenia), are at the root of most if not all alleged alien abduction experiences. Given Bates’ attitude toward the Roper Poll, it looks like he’s going to emphasize the views of the “experiencers” over research, and emphasize possible supernatural causes over more natural ones.

Pastor Johnny Hunt, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention: Cause it’s one thing to just deny. It’s another thing to say, We really understand what you’re saying and we really believe you had an experience, but here’s God’s take.

As I said in another post, that is a dangerously irresponsible position to take precisely because some of these experiences aren’t valid. Rather they are the product of mental illnesses, epileptic hallucination and other psychological causes. In saying, Hey, your experience was real but it was really demonic, we go back to the bad old days of equating mental illness with demonic possession. In fact, in many cases you’re telling folks who are only suffering from sleep paralysis that they’re actually being assaulted by demons!

In Strangers and Aliens, I commented on one of the abduction researchers who commissioned the UFO Roper Poll we’ve mentioned. Budd Hopkins believes that repressed memories of rape and sexual abuse are actually misidentified cases of alien abduction! Do you see how messed up that is? How is Gary Bates’ take on aliens abduction experiences as demonic any different?

If the trailer is any indication, I can’t help but think that this film will do more harm than help, but let’s see what conclusions we can draw from from our review of the trailer. Here’s what I believe we can expect:

A dearth of actual research on alien abductions in favor of anecdotal evidence

An all-out assault on the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO (again, we agree on the fact that biological extraterrestrials are not likely visiting this planet with apparent impunity)

A failure to consider any other theories of UFO besides the Demonic Hypothesis, including the Psychosocial Hypothesis, which might account for the data in a manner consistent with a Biblical worldview.

Conflating the invalidity of the extraterrestrial hypothesis of UFO with the possibility of alien life elsewhere in the universe

The trailer doesn’t link the UFO phenomenon to an evolutionary worldview or equate anti-alien dogma within a Biblical worldview, but given that this is the film version of Alien Intrusion book, I think it’s safe to say we can expect those points to come up as well.

Do you want to know what’s behind the UFO phenomenon? Do you want to know why it isn’t all the Devil anyway? Do you want to know why its ok if a Bible-believing Christian believes in the possibility of extraterrestrial life? Do you want to know why the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would not have any affect on the Christian faith? Do you want to know if aliens could be saved?

Do you want to know the Truth about UFOs, Aliens and the Bible?

Pick up a copy of Strangers and Aliens: A Christian Sci-fi Author Examines the Argument for Extraterrestrial Life. Arm yourself against the misinformation and logical fallacies being presented on these subjects.

“For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” 2 Corinthians 13:8